Anywhere But Here
by lost lullaby
Summary: What if Meiling found out that Syaoran loved Sakura a different way?? This is a song fic! Please R&R!


DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN CCS!! THE PEOPLE OF CLAMP DO! AND I DON'T OWN THE SONG!! IT BELONGS TO EDEN'S CRUSH. SO DON'T SUE ME!   
  
(A/N: Ok, this story takes place right before Syaoran tells Meiling that he has found another. This is a story of what would happen if Meiling found out the hard way… i.e. She finds out on her own. This is a song fic. The song is Anywhere But Here, by Eden's Crush.)  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Prologue  
  
Meiling was having a very good day. Actually, everyday so far had been a good day for Meiling. Let me describe briefly how it went. First, she'd arrive at school with Syaoran and greet the gang. Then class would start. She had the usual spelling test and she was sure she aced it. Then it was break. She had a snack while chatting happily with Sakura, Tomoyo and Syaoran. After break, she had phys ed. They played her favourite game: dodge ball. Then it was lunch. She and her friends sat in their usual spot. They ate and talked. After lunch, she had a very interesting class discussion. Their discussion was about famous Chinese and Japanese fighting warriors. Meiling brought up the tale of Mulan, which turned into a long talk. Then, she went home with Syaoran, unknowing what she was about to encounter. As I said before, Meiling was having a good day, meaning, it turned out very ugly.  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
I picked up the phone and heard her voice   
Is she takin my time   
She sounded so cute so innocent   
You always were a sucker for the playful kind  
  
  
The phone rang and Meiling went to pick it up. 'Hmm… who could be calling? We hardly get any calls except from home!' Meiling thought. Someone had already picked up the phone, but Meiling picked it up the cordless anyways just to see who it was.   
  
"Hi Syaoran-kun! It's me Sakura!" Meiling heard. 'Oh, it's only Sakura-chan!' Meiling thought.  
  
"Oh! Uhh… Hey Sa-Sakura! Um… wh-what's up?" Syaoran asked. 'Huh? Stuttering? My Syaoran never stutters! Strange…' Meiling went to Syaoran's room to spy, to figure out why he was stuttering.  
  
"Nothing much! Actually, I'm calling to ask if you'd like to go out for some ice cream! You can bring Meiling-chan too if you'd like!" Sakura said. 'Oh, ice cream would be nice! Should I be still listening? Oh who cares… it's not like he knows anyway!' She arrived outside his door and peeked through the crack. Syaoran was red as a tomato!   
  
"Meili-Meiling? I-I don't think she'd like to c-come! She's really busy! We can just go with-without her! I'm sure she w-wouldn't mind." Syaoran replied, stuttering more than ever. 'WHAT?????? That liar!!!!!!! Oh he's going to pay…' Meiling screamed inside her head. She hung up the phone and was about to barge through his door, but a thought came to mind. She remembered a movie she saw. It was a movie about 2 young teens. The boy just realized that he loved his friend, and every time he was around that girl, he would be a total wreck. Now that Meiling thought about it, that's how Syaoran was when he was around Sakura! Then, the whole thing kicked her in the ass. 'He loves her…'  
  
"Hold on, I think someone is on the line!" Meiling heard Syaoran tell Sakura. Meiling dropped to phone, fell to the ground and started crying.  
  
  
Stop before you tell me your lie   
I don't want to hear another alibi   
This is where the story will end   
If your love was real I wouldn't need to pretend so  
  
  
Syaoran opened the door and saw his cousin crying. He saw the cordless phone sitting right next to her. "You-you heard the whole thing?" He asked Meiling.  
  
Meiling nodded.   
  
"Sakura?? I gotta go! I've got a little problem here… Bye!" He told Sakura, turning slightly pink.   
  
"Oh, you've got more than a little problem here! You've got a HUGE problem here!" Meiling screamed. Meiling was right. Syaoran did have a huge problem. Not only did he have to explain why he lied to Sakura about her being busy, but he also had to tell her about Sakura, about how he loves Sakura and not her. There's also another problem behind that. Syaoran doesn't know that Meiling knows that he loves Sakura.  
  
"Meiling… I didn't mean that! I was just trying to spare you the-"  
  
"NO! I don't wanna hear any of your stupid stories! I thought you loved me! I thought that you wanted to marry me!" Meiling screamed as she got up. She turned and ran out the house. What hurt Meiling even more was that Syaoran didn't even go after her.   
  
  
Book me on a plane for Paris   
Or on a cruise to a desert isle   
Anywhere but here   
Where love disappeared   
Anywhere but here   
I wanna party in New York City   
Climb over the China Wall   
Anywhere but where   
Your love disappeared   
Anywhere but here  
  
  
Meiling ran to the park, still crying heavily. Right then, she was feeling all these emotions. She wanted to hate Sakura, but she couldn't. She didn't even know what was going on. She definitely hated Syaoran. What he did was just wrong. He led her to believe that they still had some sort of future together. Right there, she wanted to disappear. She wanted to vanish from where she was. She wanted to get away from everything. Meiling was lost in her thoughts, thoughts of when she was happy. When Syaoran seemed like he loved her. All of that just crumbled. Meiling thought of going back to Hong Kong. But the thought of leaving all of her friends, even Syaoran, made her abandon the idea.   
  
When Meiling snapped back into reality, she found that she was not crying anymore. For some weird reason, she felt better. Meiling was in the mood for ice cream. Ice cream always seemed to cheer her up when she needed it. She didn't know which ice cream shop Syaoran was supposed to meet Sakura, but Meiling thought that it didn't matter. She thought 'Why would he go anyway? He's got me to deal with first.'   
  
Meiling went to 'My Favourite Ice Cream Shop'. It was a nice little place that wasn't that popular. Everyone usually went to 'Cool Scoops', so she knew that there was a slim chance that she'd meet anyone she knew.  
  
  
I saw you with her on the corner   
Looking in each others eyes   
Was it a mistake my heart would break   
Or did you ever think about who would cry  
  
  
When she turned the corner, she couldn't believe her eyes. There was Sakura and Syaoran, sitting outside, eating their ice cream merrily. Meiling made a weird chocking sound and Syaoran looked up. Meiling was fighting all the tears that were forming in her eyes. She didn't want to pull Sakura into this. She forced a weird smile, just for Sakura's sake.   
  
"Meiling-chan!! Come join us!" Sakura said happily.  
  
Those words made Meiling snap. Meiling was usually really good a keeping a false face, but now was not one of those times. Meiling was too heart broken to do so. "How could you!? You obviously don't care about me!! This was the last straw Li Syaoran!" Meiling screamed. Everyone was looking at her as if she was crazy. Sakura was extremely confused.  
  
"Hoe?? Syaoran-kun, what's going on?" Sakura asked innocently.   
  
"Um… nothing Sakura! Meiling's just-" Syaoran said, but he was interrupted by a…  
  
"WHAT??? THIS IS NOTHING??? Oh…" Meiling yelled. She started crying again. 'How could he be so insensitive? We just had a fight and he still came!' Meiling thought.   
  
  
Stop before you say it again   
You never kiss and tell with your girlfriend's girlfriend   
This is where my story begins   
I need a new lover that's where I'm going  
  
  
"Meiling! It's not what you think! I was just-"  
  
"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear another one of your damn lies!!!! Just don't talk to me! Ever again!!!!!!" Meiling turned and ran off again. This time, she ran home.   
  
When Meiling got home, she slammed the door behind her. She stomped into the kitchen, where Wei was. Her eyes were blood shot and her face was flustered from crying.   
  
"Meiling! What's wrong?" Wei asked.  
  
Meiling chose not to answer. "Wei, I need to go back to Hong Kong right away."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Something came up, ok?" she tried to say calmly.   
  
"Ok, I'll go and book you a flight that leaves as soon as possible." Wei replied. He didn't know what was so urgent. Surely if something happened to her family, he'd know too, but nothing happened. He didn't want to question the little girl, so he just did what she said. If she wanted to go back home, then she'll go back home.  
  
Meiling went to her room and slammed the door. She took out all of her suitcases and started packing. Well, if you call what she was doing "packing". She just threw whatever into her suitcases. After she finished 1 suitcase, Wei knocked on the door.   
  
"Meiling, the earliest flight to Hong Kong is tomorrow afternoon." He said.  
  
"Huh?? No sooner? Are you sure?" Meiling asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure." He replied.  
  
"That's fine…"  
  
No, it wasn't fine. She had to spend the whole day with Syaoran around. Well, she wasn't going to let that happen. She decided to spend the night at Tomoyo's house, of course, with her approval. Meiling phoned Tomoyo and asked if it was ok, and Tomoyo said that it was. When she finished packing, she heard someone come home. It was Syaoran. She decided to tell him that she was leaving. When she got to his room, she heard him pick up the phone and dial a number. Curiosity got the best of her. She ran back to her room and picked up the phone.   
  
Meiling wished that she hadn't picked up the phone when she did because when she did, she heard, "Kinomoto residence, this is Sakura speaking!". Meiling felt her heart break all over again. She quickly hung up the phone. She decided that she didn't want to hear what they were saying.  
  
  
Book me on a plane for Paris   
Or on a cruise to a desert isle   
Anywhere but here   
Where love disappeared   
Anywhere but here   
I wanna party in New York City   
Climb over the China Wall   
Anywhere but where   
Your love disappeared   
Anywhere but here  
  
  
Meiling collapsed on her bed. She started crying once again. 'That bastard…' she kept on thinking. She couldn't handle staying in that room, knowing that Syaoran was just down the hall with Sakura on the phone. She got up and left her room. She told Wei that she was going to Tomoyo's house to stay for the night. She said that she'd return in the morning so that they can drive her to the airport.  
  
*DING* *DONG*   
  
"Who is there?" asked a voice through a speaker.  
  
"It's Li Meiling! Tomoyo-chan's expecting me" Meiling replied.  
  
The gates slowly opened and Meiling entered. She saw Tomoyo standing at the door. "Hi Meiling-chan! You're early!" Tomoyo said while leading Meiling up to her room.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry! I just couldn't wait!"  
  
"That's ok!"   
  
The 2 girls sat on Tomoyo's bed in silence. The girls had never been very close, but they still talked lots. "So, how have you been?" Tomoyo asked, she wanted to break the silence between them.  
  
"Actually, not too good. The main reason why I came over was to tell you that I'm going back to Hong Kong and to talk to you about something. I remember you telling me that I could always talk to you if I needed to talk." Meiling replied.  
  
"Oh sure! We can talk about anything." Tomoyo said. She had an idea of what they were going to talk about. She braced herself for a long talk about a certain someone.   
  
  
As much as I wanted you   
Your love has left me alone   
Now it's all of over   
You disconnected my heart when she picked up the phone   
I gotta get myself over you  
  
  
Then and there, Meiling spilled all of her feelings towards Syaoran. She told Tomoyo that she found out that he loved Sakura, and not her. She told her how she found out and how he handled the situation. She told her that she couldn't hate Sakura because Sakura doesn't even know what's going on. Meiling continued on to tell Tomoyo that she kinda got over the whole ordeal, but it got started up again when she found Syaoran and Sakura at the ice cream shop. She said that Syaoran lied to her on many accounts to cover up the situation for Sakura. After telling Tomoyo how everything, she broke down in tears.  
  
"I loved him with all of my heart! He doesn't even care that he hurt me! I still love him, but I hate him for what he did! I just can't believe he would do that to me! He should have told me right when he figured out he loved her. He should have spared my feelings! I wonder how long he had loved her…" Meiling said through sobs.  
  
Tomoyo didn't know what to say. She knew that Syaoran loved Sakura. All she did was sit next to Meiling and comfort her. Meiling put her head on Tomoyo's shoulder. They sat in silence once again. But this time, it was ok. Meiling needed the time alone. Meiling needed to think. After a while, they both decided to call it a night.   
  
They woke up early the next morning. Meiling thanked Tomoyo for letting her confide in her. She told Tomoyo to tell Sakura that she was leaving for her. Then she returned home. She had to force herself inside the apartment. When she opened the door, she found Syaoran sitting there, waiting for her.  
  
  
Stop before you tell me your lie   
I don't want to hear another alibi   
This is where the story will end   
If your love was real I wouldn't need to pretend so  
  
  
Meiling was surprised that he actually waited for her. But, that didn't change the fact that she was still mad at him.  
  
"Where were you?" he asked worriedly.   
  
"It doesn't matter. It's not like you care." Meiling snapped at Syaoran.  
  
Syaoran ignored the comments. "Wei said that you were going back to Hong Kong."  
  
"Well, I am."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's obvious, isn't it?"  
  
"Please don't go. You know I'll miss-"  
  
"Don't even start with me! Right now, I don't need to hear your excuse. I just need to finish packing. My flight leaves in a few hours." Meiling said without any trace of sentiment on her face.   
  
What Syaoran didn't know was that Meiling was lying. She already finished packing. She just needed an excuse to get away from him. Meiling didn't feel bad for lying to him because that's all he's been doing to her. When she reached her room, new tears were coming down her face. She opened the door and went in. She crawled into bed and lay there for a while. She drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour. Finally, when she was fully awake, she decided to do something. She knew that she wouldn't feel right without telling Syaoran how she felt.   
  
She took out a nice piece of paper and started to write a letter. She wrote down EVERYTHING. The letter turned out to be fairly long (3 pages). She folded it up and put it in an envelope. With neat writing, she wrote Li Syaoran on the envelope. She was going to put it on the kitchen table where he would find it later. She just didn't have to heart to hand it to him directly.  
  
  
Book me on a plane for Paris   
Or on a cruise to a desert isle   
Anywhere but here   
Where love disappeared   
Anywhere but here   
I wanna party in New York City   
Climb over the China Wall   
Anywhere but where   
Your love disappeared   
Anywhere but here  
  
  
Much to Wei's surprise, Syaoran chose not to come with him to drive Meiling to the airport. That made Meiling feel a tad better. Departing from Japan would be easier if the people that she most cared about weren't there. She got on the plane and sighed. She was going to miss everyone. She knew that. She also knew that leaving for a while would help her heal and that it was the best thing for her. As the plane took off, she bid her finale farewell to everyone.   
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Finale  
  
Syaoran is at home. He was sitting in his room, thinking of Meiling. She was actually gone. She was on the plane, on the way back to Hong Kong. Suddenly, he had the biggest urge to eat something. He went downstairs to the kitchen. He got out some cold chicken and went to the kitchen table. Just as he was stuffing his face, he found something else on the table. It was a letter, and it was addressed to him. He cleaned his fingers and tore the envelope open. 'It's from Meiling!' he thought. He read the letter. His eyes widened as he read on. All of the sudden, he lost his appetite. He returned the chicken to the fridge and he went back to his room. He took the letter out again. He flipped to the very last paragraph. He read it over and over. It made him feel good knowing that she would get better. It read:  
  
~*Syaoran, please don't think that I hate you now. I'm just going through a lot of different emotions right now. I need time to heal. I still love you. I just want you to know that. And if you ever change your mind, please remember that I'll always be waiting for you. That IS, if I haven't found anyone… ^_~ *~  
  
From your loving cousin,  
  
Li Meiling  
  
  
~*The*End*~  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
(A/N: BTW, when Meiling is bidding her finale farewell, she's doing that in her head. She's not screaming at the window… ^_^ Anyhoooooo….. How did you like it?? It took me like 6 hours to write! Not 6 hours straight though… omigod, if I did that, I'd die! Please review!!)  



End file.
